Does anyone have a tank without a hood, and just use a desk lamp or something? I'm thinking I could do this with my 29 and fill it like halfway and have plants growing out the top? Anyone know how to make this possible? Thanks!

They allow light to pass through and they aren't as ugly as those big black tops. I suggest getting one of these because without any lid at all you're going to be topping off that tank a lot, and it's going to get annoying.

I Have an open top tank and its just fine with a desk lamp. I also have a few emmersed plants with their roots in the water. I have a gallon of water right next to it and I top off evaporated water every other day. But my tank is only 10 gal so a desk lamp with a 15w CFL bulb provides adequate lighting. This will not be the case in a 30 gal as a 30 gal will require 30-90 watts of lighting depending on the types of plants you'll be having.

nice tank! I was thinking more of having the pothos plant floating, then the roots in the water, have a few in my tanks now and really like it. I have a lamp sitting on my headboard which I would use on the tank, not sure how many watts, but it is one that is suppose to mimmick sunlight.

Will you be having aquatic plants? because the 30-90 watts of light was for aquatic plants. If you are just going to have pothos and other plants ABOVE the waterline then you wont need any special lights. Ambient room light or a clip-on desk lamp will be enough. I swear pothos could live in the dark lol.

haha no kidding! my pothos was really irritating me, but I love it in my tanks! I think for now I'll just stick with pothos unless I can find easy growing plants like java moss or elodea. I only have walmart and petsmart which just has the plants in the "tubes" and I haven't looked to see what kind of plants they are. So as far as I know, even with elodea and moss, I don't need more lighting?